A vehicle door handle device is used to operate a locking device to unlock a door from a vehicle body, and is attached to a door panel. There are two kinds of such devices: an inside door handle device and an outer side door handle device. In an inside door handle device, the door is opened and closed by operating an operation handle in the passenger compartment. In an outer side door handle device, the door is opened and closed by operating an operation handle on the vehicle exterior. In either device, operative force is transmitted to the locking device by a cable when the operation handle is pulled. As a result, the locked state of the door maintained by the locking device is released.
When the vehicle undergoes a side surface collision, an excessive amount of external force accompanying the collision may act on the door or the operation handle. As a result, the cable may be pulled by the operating handle. When the operating handle is not being operated manually, it is preferred that the locked state of the door is capable of being maintained by the locking device. To accomplish this, it is preferable to ensure that the cable is not pulled by the displaced operating handle. Thus, a structure for attaching a door handle device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-176478 (JP 2004-176478 A), for example, is known as a technique for preventing the cable from being pulled.
The vehicle door handle device attachment structure disclosed in JP 2004-176478 A has a structure whereby an inside door handle device is attached to a door panel and a door trim (door lining). Specifically, the inside door handle device has a structure whereby a handle base consisting of an operating handle and a cable is attached to the door panel and the door trim.
Usually, when an excessive amount of external force acts on the door panel from the exterior during a vehicle side surface collision, the door panel deforms toward the passenger compartment. According to the attachment structure disclosed in JP 2004-176478 A, the handle base splits from the door trim when the door trim peels away from the deformed door panel. Since the handle base is not displaced even if the door trim deforms, the operation handle does not pull on the cable. As a result, the locked state of the door is maintained by the locking device.
However, in the prior art described above, certain objects (e.g., a child seat mounted on the seat) might be placed in the passenger compartment in a position facing the door. The door panel or operation handle that deforms into the passenger compartment by the excessive external force could forcefully collide with the object in the passenger compartment. For example, when the operation handle forcefully hits the object in the passenger compartment, the operation handle might be twisted or displaced relative to the handle base in some other manner, giving rise to a problem wherein the cable is pulled by the displaced operation handle. The same is true for an outer side door handle device.